The Scarlett series

The Hopewell Hotel…

…is a small Art Deco “jewelbox” in New York City. The hotel has a grand past, but a somewhat dusty and broken present, with pigeons breaking into the rooms, chandeliers with more cobwebs than glass, and constantly exploding toilets. Guests are rare, but it does have one constant set of inhabitants . . . the Martin family.

Scarlett Martin is the third of the four Martins. Scarlett is fifteen, blonde, and broke. Her friends are gone for the summer. And she’s got this one curl that exists just to stab her in the eye and blind her. Welcome to her life.

Scarlett’s closest confidant is her nineteen-year-old brother Spencer. Spencer is a talented actor and an inspired physical comedian who can do any fall, take any punch, and steal any scene. He’s also very, very out of work and is facing down a family deadline to get his career in order.

Eighteen-year-old Lola has the delicate looks of a model, the kind and practical nature of a nurse, and a wealthy society boyfriend named Chip (not much loved by Scarlett or Spencer). Lola has exceptional and expensive taste, which often runs in conflict with the realities of life at the Hopewell. Lola is the most committed to saving the hotel and is deeply devoted to her family—if she can just keep her own life in check.

Eleven-year-old Marlene is the survivor of a terrible childhood illness . . . one of the side effects being a massive sense of entitlement. Marlene is a member of a survivor’s club called the Powerkids, and she leads the most exciting life of any of the Martins. (Marlene has switched on the lights at the Empire State Building, and you have not.) Scarlett seems to be the only one willing to talk about Marlene’s bad behavior, a fact that Marlene does not appreciate.